Genre/Influences: Experimental, abstract, ambient.

Background/Info: Roman Leykam has already been active for numerous years now and has released considerable number of productions and split-albums on Frank Mark Arts. He strikes back with a new solo-work that has been composed, mixed, mastered and produced by him.

Content: Roman Leykam likes to play and experiment with guitar. “Essence” has been composed with acoustic guitar. The artist reveals (once again) himself as an experimentalist creating a sort of abstract sound, which also becomes pretty atmospheric. “Essence” is a weird trip featuring 17 tracks.

+ + + : Roman Leykam clearly is an artist like no other. This man gives you the impression to live and compose on another music planet. He’s not the only artist dealing with this kind of abstract music, but it always remains something particular and clearly different. I like the atmospheric side of his work, which could be a great match with a visual artwork. It sounds like his transforming images into music. It also feels a bit like an imaginary world of isolation. Notice by the way the album has been delivered in a beautiful and somewhat hypnotic digipak format.

– – – : “Essence” sounds experimental and therefore not exactly the kind of work, which is easy to listen to. I think it needs a visual accompaniment creating a kind of ‘total concept’ while the music on its own feels hard to catch.

Conclusion: Roman Leykam plays the guitar in a fantasy world where he feels alone and miles away from the world we’re living in. It could be a kind of meditation, but definitely a music universe of loneliness. I’m sure it might be pretty intriguing for a selected number of listeners.

Best songs: “Uncomplaining Patience”, “Subterranean River”.

Rate: (6).

Label: www.frank–mark–arts.com

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Experimental, psychedelic, cinematographic.

Background/Info: If you’re somewhat familiar with the small, independent and experimental label Frank Mark Arts you for sure will be familiar with both protagonists from this work. Roman Leykam and Frank Mark indeed have already released multiple productions together while they both are established label artists.

Content: This new opus is a sonic travel throughout minimal and experimental-like music creations. The main aspect of the work is a kind of alternative play/use of all instruments. From electric guitar to bass to guitar synths to midi trumpet to fretless bass to shortwaves to voice samples to piano every single piece reveals an atypical and alternative way of using instruments to create noises and sonic atmospheres. From total experimentalism and a kind of improvisation to psychedelic passages, “Experience Space” sounds like being composed in a sonic laboratory instead of a studio.

+ + + : I deeply respect this label and its artists for their perseverance and the never-ending exploration of how to create new sounds with familiar instruments. It creates a specific atmosphere filled with endless effects. Some cuts have a visual appeal and I’m especially recommending the opening cut “Tumult Of The Senses”. There definitely is some prosperity emerging from this experimentalism. This work also features an artistic digipak format.

– – – : This kind of work will always appeal for a very restricted number of adherents. It remains pretty abstract and hard to grasp. I’m missing some real vocal parts to get the entire production maybe a bit more accessible.

Conclusion: Roman Leykam & Frank Mark sometimes make me think of a movie of David Lynch. You try to understand the plot, but in the end you’ll never seize all the details. This is a truly sonic puzzle.

Best songs: “Tumult Of The Senses”, “Sources Of Friction”, “Roots”.

Rate: (6½).

Label: www.frank–mark–arts.com

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Experimental, abstract music, ambient.

Background/Info: Roman Leykam is one of the most familiar artists from the Frank Mark Arts label. This record company rather sounds as a little, but solid family assembling a few artists. Roman Leykam is a kind of veteran, which already strikes back with a new solo-work.

Content: The songs have been composed with electric guitars and guitar synthesizer. The composition is driven by a constant experimental fluid, which rapidly becomes pretty abstract. The creation and manipulation of sounds and noises clearly appears more important than the composition of a real ‘traditional’ song format.

“The Eternal Cycle” sounds sometimes dark, but also atmospheric and cinematographic. I also noticed a few cuts driven by a slow cadence.

+ + + : The opening cut of this work sounds pretty refreshing and even a bit more accessible. It’s the kind of sound direction I prefer, but which remains rather an exception in the work of this musician. Roman Leykam is not composing songs, but he rather appears to be a sound architect. Some of his cuts became more accessible and I can imagine his work to be used as soundtrack. He definitely remains a master in abstract- and experimental music.

– – – : The work of this artist clearly appeals for a very restricted audience. It’s not that accessible and the heavy experimental side sometimes is hard to endure. “The Eternal Cycle” sometimes sounds as an antidote to established music standards.

Conclusion: “The Eternal Cycle” is the offspring between multiple genres, but the basis of the work clearly remains the further exploration of new noises created by guitars and guitar synthesizers.

Best songs: “Breathing Pictures”, “Switch”, “Second Sight”, “Lightness”.

Rate: (7).

Label: www.frank–mark–arts.com

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Experimental, ambient, abstract, psychedelic, cinematographic.

Background/Info: Roman Leykam is a veteran of the experimental music scene and a familiar artist from the Frank Mark Arts roster. He has released numerous solo-albums and productions together with Frank Mark. “Impressions” is a new work featuring 15 cuts.

Content: I think it’s important to have a look at the booklet inside this digipak. There are different pictures of nature elements. It concerns details and beautiful colors. It creates a delicious harmony with the sound of Roman Leykam, which is a new experimental exposure of wafting sound treatments.

The guitar remains the main instrument, which is also used to produce multiple effects. The result is a rather relaxing and somewhat cinematographic. You feel like you are entering into a dream accentuated by the sound of flutes and psychedelic guitar parts.

+ + + : There’s an interesting harmony between the visual character and the music of Roman Leykam. It directly gives a higher dimension to the sound, which is accentuating the link with cinematographic music. I like the wafting sensation from this work while I also have to mention the great artwork and the especially the booklet. It simply confirms that a physical release will always have this little bonus, which you’ll never find on streaming and/or digital formats.

– – – : You have to be familiar with the work of Roman Leykam and the sound of Frank Mark Arts, which remains minimal and will appeal to a restricted number of people.

Conclusion: Music can be the right format for meditation and if you’re in search of a new and different experience in the genre, I can only, but recommend Roman Leykam.

Best songs: “Point Of No Return”, “Pleasant Anticipation”.

Rate: (6).

Band: www.facebook.com/FrankMeyerAndRomanLeykam

Label: www.frank–mark–arts.com

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Experimental, abstract, cinematographic.

Background/Info: Electronic producer Frank Meyer is an artist I discovered on other releases from the Frank Mark Arts roster and I especially refer to an album together with Roman Leykam. “Spuren” is the debut solo-album of Frank Meyer revealing 10 tracks.

Content: Frank Meyer deals with pure experimental sounds composed by multiple instruments like acoustic- and e-guitar, diddley bow, ukulele, flute, e-bass and other instruments. He also uses electronics and field recordings.

“Spuren” is a rather versatile record moving from pure experimentalism and abstract sounds to a cinematographic approach (even reminding me of the soundtrack of the famous French movie “Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulin”) to mysterious, ambient atmospheres to real evasive guitar passages to more psychedelic parts.

The work reveals a true fascination for sound research and -manipulations. You sometimes get the feeling this music is composed by a sonic scientist instead of a musician.

+ + + : You have different kinds of experimental music, but Frank Meyer makes his music quite accessible. The work is versatile and switching from reverie parts into pure experimentalism. “Spuren” could be a soundtrack for a movie and/or documentary. I like this approach and have a preference for the intriguing “Hirngespinnst”.

– – – : Even if the experimental format is pretty accessible it however remains an album that will probably appeal for a restricted number of music lovers. This is the kind of work that sounds like a part from a wider artistic creation featuring images, pictures ao.

Conclusion: “Spuren” is a rather successful solo-debut for Frank Meyer revealing a delicate side of experimentalism or is it just a visionary ambient producer?

Best songs: “Hirngespinnst”, “Klischee Und wirklichkeit”.

Rate: (7).

Band: www.facebook.com/DarageBang

Label: www.frank–mark–arts.com

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Ambient, abstract, soundtrack, experimental.

Background/Info: Roman Leykam and Frank Mark both are familiar artists active on the Frank Mark Arts roster. They’ve already worked together and released different albums. This project is something new bringing visuals and music together on DVD featuring 14 parts. “The Detection Of slowness” is the first music-film project by both artists.

Content: Both artists are experienced with ambient and experimental music genres. Roman Leykam plays guitar and guitar synths while Frank Mark did the vocals and samples. It all looks like Frank Mark has been more of a contributor to the work of Leykam.

The music reveals an ambient voyage, which is mainly constructed by guitar. Roman Leykam has this power to add a kind of emotion into his composition. Together with the images, which are dealing with an immense water and ocean view, the music brings visions of endless spaces alive. It all sounds very prospered and filled with mysteries. It clearly appeals for the listener’s imagination. A spoken, whispering passage accentuates the sensation of mystery.

+ + + : This work reveals the complementarity between music and visuals. Both elements and artistic arts reinforce the global ambient approach of the concept. The main strength for sure appears to be the guitar playing and treatments by Roman Leykam. This music has nothing in common with the familiar music genres featuring guitar, but reveals an evasive and dreamy play filled with delicacy and emotions.

– – – : The sound and images-formula becomes a bit repetitive after a while. The visuals are pretty similar and you rapidly experience a déjà-vu effect.

Conclusion: I like this kind of concept where different artistic styles are joining hands together. It all looks pretty experimental and minimal-like, but it definitely is one of the most accomplished releases from the Frank Mark Arts roster.

Best songs: “Part 3”, “Part 2”, “Part 10”.

Rate: (7½).

Band: www.facebook.com/FrankMeyerAndRomanLeykam

Label: www.frank–mark–arts.com

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Experimental, abstract.

Background/Info: Roman Leykam is an artist who will for sure ring a bell for all of those experimental music lovers. This ‘experimentalist’ has already released several albums (featuring collaborations with other artists) on Frank Mark Arts and strikes back with a work which ‘tries to convey peace, serenity and the deceleration from the daily routine. The music offers the listener the opportunity to enter into silent communication with himself.’

Content: It all sounds like a meditation or a practice of mindfulness. The sonic universe of this work indeed explores imaginary spaces where the notes become stars… or is it just the contrary?

It’s an ambient creation made by electric guitar and guitar synths. It’s not only astral-like, but still vaguely psychedelic and even touching blues and country grounds. Next to the experimental guitar Roman Leykam also likes to manipulate with electronics. He creates weird, but captivating noises leading the listener to explore hidden visual territories.

+ + + : If you like pure experimentalism, this album really has a lot to offer. The work is quite diversified, but carried by a solid ‘space’-minded basis.

– – – : “Ethereal” is not the most accessible kind of release and a hard exercise if you want ‘to enter into silent communication’ by yourself.

Conclusion: Roman Leykam definitely is a significant artist in the experimental genre. This work covers many influences, which are all driven towards a relaxing, but abstract sonic trip.

Best songs: “Hint”, “Dedication”.

Rate: (6½).

Band: www.facebook.com/FrankMeyerAndRomanLeykam

Label: www.frank–mark–arts.com

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Experimental, abstract, psychedelic.

Content: If you’re familiar with the Frank Mark Arts roster you for sure have already heard many collaborations between artists and especially between Roman Leykam and Frank Mark. For the “Hex”-album both music mates invited Frank Meyer to join in.

“Hex” reveals a true passion for sounds and noises. The composition is more based upon the decomposition of sounds played by guitar, bass and synths to manipulate them by studio effects to create something new. It results in a rather abstract and definitely experimental way, but “Hex” is an accessible album.

The trio took care to compose slow rhythms, which have been mixed with different influences like jazz, tribal- and mainly psychedelic elements. Some passion for Pink Floyd is not really a surprise, but “Hex” sounds totally different although based upon multiple psychedelic ingredients mainly created by guitar parts. Some of the songs are a little less cinematographic as well and I mainly refer to “Figments Of The Imagination”, which is a rather appropriated title. This cut also reveals impressive sound manipulations.

Another cinematographic-orientated passage comes through on “Bracing”, which I also like for the mix of lounge- and dub influences. But the psychedelic input remains the most important. I have a little preference for songs like, “The Function Of Dreaming” and “Dead Room”.

Conclusion: “Hex” sounds like the offspring between psychedelic music and pure experimentation. It’s pretty minimal and abstract, but still pretty accessible in sound.

Best songs: “Figments Of The Imagination”, “Dead Room”, “The Function Of Dreaming”.

Rate: (DP:7)DP.

Band: www.facebook.com/FrankMeyerAndRomanLeykam

Label: www.frank-mark-arts.com

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Experimental, abstract & psychedelic.

Content: Roman Leykam is an artist I discovered through several collaborations with Frank Meyer. Those artists clearly deal with experimental music and some abstract avant-garde sound. But next to his work together with Frank Meyer, experimental guitar player Roman Leykam also releases solo-albums.

His newest work rapidly appears to be the most experimental one I’ve heard. “Realm Of Shades” was composed with electric guitars, guitar synths and e-bow guitars while you also will discover multiple guitar sound treatments. The guitar remains the epicenter of this work, which often sounds pretty anarchistic in sound, sometimes a little less psychedelic while I can’t get away from the idea that it all sounds much improvised. The compositions don’t really sound like ‘music’ compositions rather than sound experiments where the result of manipulations and studio effects become more important than song structures, verses and choruses.

The work is a pure sound collage revealing multiple guitar sounds that have been transposed into new noises. Some of these ‘noises’ are absolutely cool and I especially refer to the kind of monstrous sound emerging at “The Aftermath.” I also became fascinated by the e-bow guitar, which is something really special and very experimental as well.

This work is meant for real die-hard fans of experimental music or do I have to call it ‘anti-music’. There for sure is an audience for all kinds of music and experiments, but I’m afraid this new Roman Laykam release will only catch the attention of a very restricted number of listeners.

Conclusion: Different guitars and guitar effects have been pushed towards a real distant border of experimentalism. It’s the kind of work that will only ravish the most extreme lovers of experimental music while I already heard more fascinating releases from Frank Mark Arts.

Best songs: “The Aftermath”, “Vexing”.

Rate: (DP:5)DP.

Band: www.facebook.com/FrankMeyerAndRomanLeykam

Label: www.frank-mark-arts.com

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com